First World War Project -Armistice Day 2016

Each year on Armistice day I have been creating and uploading a track as a commemoration of the Centenary of the First World War. Eventually all the pieces will be combined in a new larger work, hopefully to be completed in 2018.

2016 marks the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme but it is also a hundred years since the first Tanks were deployed on the battlefront ( September, 1916).

“Originally termed “Landships.” by the Landships Committee, production vehicles were named “tanks”, to preserve secrecy. The term was chosen when it became known that the factory workers at William Foster referred to the first prototype as “the tank” because of its resemblance to a steel water tank. The environment inside was extremely unpleasant; the atmosphere was contaminated with poisonous carbon monoxide, fuel and oil vapours from the engine and cordite fumes from the weapons as ventilation was inadequate. Temperatures inside could reach 50°C (122°F). Entire crews lost consciousness or became violently sick when again exposed to fresh air.

To counter the fumes inside and the danger of bullet splash or fragments and rivets knocked off the inside of the hull, the crew wore helmets with goggles and chainmail masks – Splatter Masks. Gas masks were also standard issue” ( Wikipedia)

In the video there is a tank operators view of the Somme. The images of the battlefields are from original photographs of the Somme, with the tanks being derelict or out of action photographed by Capt. F. Hurley of the Australian army and from the collections of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. The giant explosion at the end of the video is of the Hawthorn Ridge mine, 1 July 1916 ( Wikimedia Commons)